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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615374">running through time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrenid/pseuds/cyrenid'>cyrenid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>also implied dnf from the wedding scene, immortal!dream, karl posted on twitter about the time traveler theory and i was like yooooooo, not proofread we die like men, this is my first fic ive ever posted on here lmao, time traveller!karl jacobs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:48:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrenid/pseuds/cyrenid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Karl Jacobs' first day on the job as a time traveller definitely doesn't go to plan. He lets his target, a strange masked man, die. But he gets over it, and turns to his next job, protecting a man in green. Why does he feel like he's seen this man before?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>89</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>running through time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I straight up just picked events both Dream and Karl were at for this fic to flow we are going to ignore the canonicity or lack thereof of some of them lmao. also this is the first fic i've ever posted on here and one of the first i've ever posted period, so please enjoy! (and yes I know the title is cheesy shhh)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He stared at the ancient village in front of him with shaking and twitching hands. He had been assigned this village to watch over, to protect, and to ensure that history played out exactly as it should. In another, cursed and destroyed, timeline, this village lay in shambles, abandoned, its inhabitants driven mad. But in this Now, Karl Jacobs was here to ensure the village remained perfectly fine. </p><p>[In hindsight, the Elders realized later, sending a new recruit into the Past with an aged immortal was a horrible field test.]</p><p>Karl was greeted warmly by the villagers, given warm regards and even offered a place to stay by one villager. He politely declined the offer, having been informed what went down in that house every night. Besides, if everything happened as it should, the young man would only be in this village for one day. </p><p>He had already set eyes on his target, another young man, Cornelius was his name, donned in all green, with a porcelain mask covering his face. In the Past, this man was fated to die on this night. Karl’s job was to ensure he didn’t, and to push this village back into the Now. The Elders had told him nothing more, and nothing less about this man, had given no explanation to his out-of-place garments, but Karl had already learned not to question his superiors.</p><p>[Never making that mistake again.]</p><p> </p><p>As the sun set behind the town, Karl took his place in the town square, watching each house closely, intently. The Killers would harm no man tonight, and they would be revealed to all tomorrow morning, Karl was sure of it. He had to be. </p><p>A loud shout comes from one shack, and Karl jumps to his feet. This was exactly what he had been waiting for. He rushes to the shack only to find two of the villagers, Miles and Helga, having...fun. All three of them stood staring at each other, and Karl lost his temper. He couldn’t let anybody distract him from saving Cornelius tonight. He began to shout at the two villagers, and they argued back with him.</p><p>The shouting match lasted long into the morning, until Karl turned and noticed the town square full of the villagers, all of them looking concernedly into the shack. He sighed and turned to face the villagers. Cornelius was gone. Karl’s breath caught in his throat, and he raced over to Cornelius’ shack and banged on the door.</p><p>“Cornelius?” he asked, though he already knew he would receive no answer. He forced open the door to the sight of Cornelius’ body on the ground, porcelain mask in shattered pieces next to him. Karl was already attempting to come to terms with what he had caused. Because he hadn’t pushed the village into the Now, he had to endure what he knew would come after. </p><p>Three more mornings rushed by, with villagers dying in the exact order that had been described to Karl. As the two Killers triumphed over their murders, Karl caught sight of a flash in the corner of his eye. Green. But as he whipped his head around to catch it, the flash disappeared. He sighed, assuming it was an Elder writing a nasty report on his job.</p><p>[Dream, “Cornelius,” was running, hands over his bare face. His mask was irreparable, and he had to make a new one quickly. That man had seen his face. He had seen Dream. He needed to be more cautious from now on. The magic used to fake his death had tired him, and he needed to rest soon. He was always running, it felt like.] </p><p>------</p><p> </p><p>It had been a month. Years? Eons? Had it even Been? He didn’t know. Karl had been on probation for however long, but hadn’t been punished in any other way. The Elders had told him there was a higher force at play, one they should have told him about. And one they didn’t, and haven’t told him about. </p><p>Nevertheless, Karl had to keep going. It was his duty to save people, villages, <i>countries</i> from the Past, to keep them in the Now, and that was the duty he was serving at the moment. He had just arrived in another town, a city much younger and newer than his first village. First disaster.</p><p>[A friend had told him that an Elder had intervened, prevented the murder of Cornelius and had fixed the timeline. His friend didn’t tell him that the Elder had chided Dream for running, for attempting to fake his death. He should have known better, after all. Immortals will never die. Why bother trying?]</p><p>Karl’s job this time was simple. No murder prevention, no tsunami rescuing, <i>no explosion thwarting. </i> All he had to do was watch over a wedding, preventing an objection. Simple. </p><p>Karl hadn’t been told who was getting married, but why should he care? Was it truly important?</p><p>[The Elders should have realized.]</p><p>As one of the husbands walked down the aisle, Karl did a double take. The man bore an uncanny resemblance to Cornelius, the man Karl had failed. The man whose face he saw shattered and lifeless on the ground in front of him. He thought that he had recovered from his failure, but it was clear he was still shaken up. He took a deep breath, and reminded himself of what an Elder had told him once.</p><p>[“Descendants of bloodlines will often look very similar. It’s not uncommon to meet a man who looks just like his great-grandfather. Never bring up old relatives you may have known, you will only draw suspicion.” When Karl had asked if he would ever meet the same person twice, the Elder had looked away and dismissed him.]</p><p>The wedding was going fine. Aside from the flower boy throwing a stone at one of the audience members, no harm had been caused. Yet. Karl sat next to a man dressed down in a blue t-shirt and slacks, his target. All he had to do was distract him during the objections, and the timeline would be patched. Surprisingly, he had not been asked his identity yet. He had a great cover, of course, but he was upset he didn’t have to use it. Both of the men at the altar thought he was a friend of the other man, he guessed. But the man on the left, who Karl had deemed “Cornelius IV” in his head, kept glancing nervously at him. Karl looked back at him, and eventually the man ceased to glance at him. Cornelius IV wore a green veil.</p><p>The priest’s voice rang clear through the church, asking for any objections to the wedding. But as Karl quickly turned to the man beside him, ready to distract him, he was met with a bored expression on the man’s face instead. </p><p> </p><p>Karl turned back, slumping slightly in his pew. The Elders never made a mistake [didn’t they?], so why was Karl in the wrong timeline? At least, that was the only explanation Karl could come up with. He had come to the Now, and not the Past. He shrugged, at least he could enjoy a nice wedding before heading back.</p><p>Suddenly, as the husbands prepared to seal their marriage, his seat neighbor jumped up, yelling “I object!” Karl jumped up as well, joined by many guests on either side of the church. The name George was being shouted by people in the crowd, so Karl deemed the objecting man that. While Karl raced around, trying to improvise a plan of action, George pulled Cornelius IV to a corner of the church, being berated by guests on all sides. Karl turned to the other husband, who was standing on stage in shock. </p><p>“You’ll be alright, I’ll make sure of it, sir.” He told him. The other man narrowed his eyes in confusion, clearly not recognizing him, but presently nodded and jogged with Karl over to where the other lovebirds were nested in the church. Accusations of kisses and affairs and proposals were thrown around, and it was too much for Karl to handle. He hadn’t even been told what would happen if he hadn’t prevented the objection, the task having been deemed too simple to fail.</p><p>[It seemed to the Elders that wherever Karl went, the immortal man followed.]</p><p>The second (ex) husband shouted over the rest of the voices, asking what was happening, why he had been betrayed. Cornelius IV began to speak, then made eye contact with Karl. His voice left him, and he gaped at Karl for some time. </p><p>“Did you kiss him, Dream?” Karl heard someone ask.</p><p>“Dream” didn’t take his eyes off of Karl. Then suddenly, he was gone. And the guests acted like this was normal. Like this man, this Dream, could leave at random. As if he could teleport away like nothing had happened. Karl was about to question this, knowing a reveal of who he was, or was not, was insignificant at this point, but he could feel the inescapable pull back to the headquarters. </p><p>He arrived, hanging his head low as multiple Elders were gathered in front of him, speaking in hushed tones. They quieted as he made his presence known, and he prepared to be fired.</p><p>[Dream had seen that man before. There was no denying it. The man that had seen his real face twice now. His real form. Dream vowed to himself never to remove his mask again.]</p><p>------</p><p>[He watches from afar as the masked man battles his rival, feeling dismayed when he loses the fight. Why did he feel sorry for this man he didn’t know?]</p><p>[Karl raises his arms in triumph alongside a masked man. They smile uneasily at each other as crowns are placed upon their heads.]</p><p>[He watches intently as the faceless man plays a game of trivia. Why was he so invested?]</p><p>------</p><p>Karl stood in a crater. Water flowed from great heights. A grieving father stood with his youngest, and perhaps now his only, son. Friends cried on each other's shoulders. A man, a boy, stood at the edge of the crater, preparing a speech. Preparing to save their country. And in the middle of the crater stood a man, laughing. A man in green. A porcelain mask. Karl had been assigned this job long ago, perhaps almost six months at this point, tasked with one job. He had failed. </p><p>“Dream,” he said.</p><p>The man in green turned to him, still laughing quietly.</p><p>“Karl.”</p><p>He knew his name. He knew Karl. And Karl knew him. Had it been years, or weeks? Since their first encounter together? Since that poor village, hundreds of years ago?</p><p>[The Elders had apologized profusely, assuring him almost no one of Dream’s kind existed, and that they rarely caused conflict of this scale. He had been more informed this time, ready to do whatever it took to stop him. It wasn’t enough. He wasn’t even the one who had to be stopped, in the end.] </p><p>The two men stared in silence at each other for a while, until Dream turned to walk up the sides of the crater. Whether he planned to stay in this realm, or to migrate to another to cause more destruction, Karl didn’t care. He was staying. Six months is a long time. Karl had forged bonds, fought in wars, he was even engaged. He wondered at which point he stopped doing things to “keep his cover.” He turned to look at the citizens, his friends, and ignored every muscle in his body that was trying to pull him out of this timeline. That would never happen again. This would never happen again. Karl would make sure of it. He would tell them the stories. Stories of a faked death, of a village gone mad, of a ruined wedding, of victories, and of loss. He would tell them of a man in green. He would warn them.</p><p>[Dream learned of these tales from afar, having taken refuge from a storm in a small dirt hut up north. He laughed to himself. Karl had not lived as long as Dream, nor would he ever. Dream had time. Oh yes, Dream had Time. Sooner or later, these tales of a “man in green” would stop. Karl would be gone. Everyone would be gone. The craters would be patched, the generation would begin anew, and the masked man would become a child’s tale. And Dream would return.]</p>
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